Pricing Prints

[Photography by Adri]

Hi all! I just joined. My name is Adri, I live in very far Northern California - just south of Redding. I started out with photography in 2012 after I learned that good photos helped my foster dogs through Border Collie Rescue get adopted faster. Since then photography has become a passion of mine. I photographed mostly dogs for several years - great subjects to learn with! After I became very sick last year I didn't touch my camera for months. But since dusting it off, it's been a tremendous help in giving me something positive to do during the recovery process! I've mostly moved to nature and wildlife photography since then - I seem to have found my niche, my skills have shot through the roof since changing my focus to nature and wildlife. I love it.
I'm wanting to sell prints of my work, but am having a really hard time pricing them. I haven't had much luck finding other nature and wildlife photographers in my area - you would think there'd be a lot of them. So I don't really know where to start with pricing.
Can you guys help me figure out how to price my work? You can see my work on Flickr: flickr.com/photos/adripendletonphotography
I'm in the process of putting together my website -it isn't finished yet, so it doesn't get shown to anyone except other photographers that I'm requesting help from. You can see it here:
PhotographyByAdri.com

I'm thinking & hoping that once I have my prices figured out, I'll be able to get my website finished really quickly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've been stuck on pricing for a while now.

Thanks!!

 

[nathan cox]

Welcome. I am no expert at pricing but I think The first spot to start is seeing how much it will cost to print. Then you need to decide if you want to sell many at a low price or a few at a high price. and last you can decide (I think the cheaper is better when you first start because you have no reputation)

 

[xenskhe]

The price is your costs plus however much profit you wish for or can reasonably ask for.
How much does each print cost you to make?

Whether you factor in your some or all (or none) of your time as a cost, depends on how you view
the activity; is it a hobby, a business...

You need a figure for how much a finished, saleable print, marketed, packaged and shipped costs you.
You need a figure for how much a damaged or reject, unsaleable print costs you.

etc.

 

[robbins.photo]

Well 'I will wish you luck but selling prints of wildlife/landscapes isn't exactly an easy task, which is most likely why you are finding it hard to find any one else in your area doing it to base your pricing off of. It's not impossible of course, but a pretty difficult field of endeavor to make any real money at. Your going to need some serious marketing skills and for most at least the amount of time you'll need to spend trying to market/sell your photos will probably make the proposition pretty unattractive, as most folks find they make almost nothing per hour after they divide it out.

I'd probably think about your market a bit first. Who do you plan on selling this too, and how? If your going to throw up a table at a flea market, for example, your pricing is going to be different than if you plan on trying to sell these out of a high end gallery. That sort of thing.

 

[xenskhe]

I started out with photography in 2012 after I learned that good photos helped my foster dogs through Border Collie Rescue get adopted faster. Since then photography has become a passion of mine. I photographed mostly dogs for several years - great subjects to learn with!

If you have some pictures that you feel are good enough to promote what you are planning, consider providing an on-demand portrait service to dog owners.

 

[KmH]

There are almost as many ways to price prints as there are photographers.
What kind of prints, on what media, at what sizes are you talking about?

Desk size prints need to be marked up a lot more than wall size prints if you want to at least break even after adding to the price for your time/talent and cost of having a print made.

Some photographers just use a standard markup, like 3x what having a print made costs the photographer, some charge by the square inch of print, some charge by the pose, some charge by the sheet, and more.

Packaging, mounting, framing, glazing, and different types of print also effect what price to charge.

 

[spiralout462]

Are you printing or letting someone else do it?

They are worth what someone will pay.

 

[vintagesnaps]

You don't price by the cost of ink and a piece of paper. Your pricing should take into account the costs of photography - camera, lenses, computer, printer, etc. You are pricing your talent, your expertise, and your time that went into learning and practicing and developing your skills.

Depends on your area and where you intend to sell prints. Look at any art centers that have galleries or local arts & craft shows etc. - check their websites or go to some shows/craft fairs and see how photos or other artwork is priced. It will probably vary somewhat by the photographer - usually someone more established or well known regionally will price higher than most of the prints in a show.

Try American Society of Media Photographers or PPA for resources for photographers from pros.

 

[xenskhe]

Adri,
Nice photos.

If you are interested in purchasing a print in a size not listed here, would like your order customized in any way, or have any questions please|||||||||| and I'll get back to you ASAP!

As well as all the decisions about what photos to offer for sale, how to present them, how to promote the idea, price etc.. if you have something to sell online, it may be effective to sell it directly with some kind of shopping cart, click and buy now interface.